On Wednesday night’s The Beat, MSNBC host Ari Melber shamelessly lied to his audience that the Supreme Court’s decision in 303 Creative LLC v Elenis permits businesses to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation. In reality, the decision was a religious liberty case that upheld a Christian’s right to not express messages one doesn’t agree with.
Yet, Melber wants you to think that a store owner is now permitted to refuse to sell a product to someone who’s gay. He either knows this isn’t true and is purposefully lying, or he’s ignorant of the Supreme Court decision.
“Since we took down as a nation those, quote, whites only signs, since we took down Jim Crow discrimination, since we took down those horrific images which in many schools are still taught as one of the low points of the way we live and how we should never live again, now today I'm telling you the news that the Supreme Court is saying you can put up similar signs,” Melber fear mongered.
“They don't happen to say whites only. They would say something like straights only, or whatever word you want to use,” he falsely claimed.
He then fretted that “the Supreme Court of the United States [is] erecting and allowing new discrimination on the basis of identity.”
Melber’s basis for this conspiracy theory is a hair salon owner in Michigan who recently announced they will refuse service to certain members of the “LGBT community.” 
“As a legal matter, depending on how they do it, well this is exactly what the Supreme Court brought,” Melber added.
He then brought on Chasten Buttigieg, the “husband” of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to whine about how gay people are somehow discriminated against.
This dishonest segment was made possible by Angi. Their information is linked.
To read the transcript, click “expand”:
MSNBC’s The Beat With Ari Melber
7/12/2023
6:28:27 p.m. EasternARI MELBER: Since we took down as a nation those, quote, whites only signs, since we took down Jim Crow discrimination, since we took down those horrific images which in many schools are still taught as one of the low points of the way we live and how we should never live again, now today I'm telling you the news that the Supreme Court is saying you can put up similar signs. They don't happen to say whites only. They would say something like straights only, or whatever word you want to use. But the point is, for the first time in decades, as Sonia Sotomayor put it in her blistering dissent, we have the Supreme Court of the United States erecting and allowing new discrimination on the basis of identity.
And cue the reaction around the country. Well, some people oppose the decision. Some businesses are going on as usual meaning they're not gonna change what they do, but others are seeing this is a license to do new legal discrimination. Take this hair salon in Michigan which has announced they will refuse service to certain members of the LGBT community, posting online, this was days after the ruling, and saying they have the right to do it. And as a legal matter, depending on how they do it, well this is exactly what the Supreme Court brought.
